Deerskin (Quentin Dupieux, 2019): France

Reviewed by Ethan Messecar. Viewed at AFI Fest 2019.

As a lover of cult cinema, I was overjoyed to find independent writer/director Quentin Dupieux’s “Deerskin” on the docket for AFI Fest 2019, and I am happy to say it doesn’t disappoint.

“Deerskin” follows a soon to be divorced man named George, played by Jean Dujardin(“The Artist”), who has traveled to the French countryside in search of a very special Deerskin jacket. George buys it and receives a small digital camera as a part of the sale. He begins filming random things in the countryside, telling people that he is a filmmaker working on a movie, meanwhile the jacket begins to talk to George. It tells him that it wants to be the only jacket in the whole world. George also wants this and so the two begin to use George’s newfound filmmaking persona as a means to achieving their dream.

While his previous film “Rubber” has been seen by many as a biting, if not somewhat impenetrable, satire on the creatively bankrupt Hollywood system; “Deerskin” seems to aim it’s accusatory finger at the young and sometimes inexperienced filmmakers who can often come off as though they believe themselves to be the nexus point of the emerging cinematic landscape. The protagonist believes himself to be a filmmaker simply upon the fact that he has a camera and records things. In actuality, he knows nothing about filmmaking, he doesn’t even grasp the concept of editing; and yet he drags others into his crusade nonetheless. Stealing money from his friend, lying about foreign investors, and filming strangers against their will are just a few of the whacky misdemeanors George does in the name of achieving his dream. Such reckless and unprofessional behaviors are often seen as trademarks of indie autuers such as Lars Von Trier, Nicholas Winding Refen, Gaspar Noe, Quentin Tarrantino, Ed Wood, and Tommy Wiseau. Indeed the unpolished look of George’s camera footage does somewhat resemble the films of the Dogma 95 movement, shooting everything without artificial means; meanwhile the rest of the film is shot with a more Cohen brothers esque approach to things, using slow and methodical camera work to help create a subtly surreal landscape with both a sense of humor as well as dread. Complementing this style are the performances of both Dujardin and his co-star Adele Haenal who perform their lines with either monotone rhythm or exaggerated intensity as though they were jolted to life by the likes of John Waters.

While “Deerskin” is undeniably one of the weirder films I’ve seen in recent memory there is, at the same time, an undertone of sincerity to this gonzo story, just by the mere fact of how unapologetically strange it is. It frames it’s point through an odd but undeniably unique lense and that’s a hard quality to find in a film sometimes. For those looking for a profoundly strange or strangely profound experience, I highly recommend “Deerskin.”


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